Wasted food enough to feed 3 million with 3 meals a day

The cost to dispose of food wasted by each Malaysian household comes to about RM210 a month, or RM2,600 a year, housing and local government minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican said today.

He said the cost of treating food waste per household was expected to increase from the current RM60-RM150 to RM160-RM400 by 2025.

He said Malaysians produce 38,000 tonnes of solid waste every day. Of that amount, about 17,000 tonnes is food waste, of which an estimated 4,046 tonnes, or 24%, is avoidable food waste.

“This amount can feed three million people with three meals a day,” he told reporters after launching a #JomTapau campaign, aimed at encouraging the community to value food and avoid waste.

Reezal Merican said Malaysians should not over-prepare food, and should reduce food wastage to avoid food ending up in landfills. He said that the trend of food wastage increases by 15%-20% during festive seasons.

“If each person avoids wasting one kg of food waste, about RM100 could be saved in a month for one family,” he said.

Reezal Merican said the #JomTapau campaign was to encourage the community to pack surplus food to take home, to avoid wastage.

The food appreciation campaign was introduced in 2015. This year, the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) implemented the campaign by focusing on food premises, such as restaurants, hotels and hawker centres. FMT

Wasted food enough to feed 3 million with 3 meals a day

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